Ogier fends off Latvala for vital Wales Rally GB victory

Sebastien Ogier has secured his first World Rally Championship victory since April with his fifth career Wales Rally GB win having seen off Jari-Matti Latvala on the final day.

After inheriting the lead following Ott Tanak’s mechanical breakdown for Toyota Gazoo Racing on SS16, Ogier came under pressure from Latvala on Sunday’s final stages with the Finn briefly gaining the lead at the end of SS20 by just 0.2s.

But a flawless finish to Wales Rally GB by the M-Sport Ford driver saw him notch up a hat-trick of stage wins, including the Power Stage, to take victory by 10.6s from Latvala.

The victory marks Ogier’s first WRC event triumph in seven rounds and provides a timely boost to his world title hopes. The defending WRC champion moves back up to second place and closes to seven points behind Thierry Neuville, with Tanak dropping to third with a 15-pont deficit to Ogier.

Neuville, who suffered a rare mistake in his 2018 campaign in the opening stages to the British event, recovered to fifth place for Hyundai having been allowed to overtake teammates Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon in the overall classification.

Esapekka Lappi completed the podium trio for Toyota to strengthen its lead in the WRC world constructors’ championship, with Craig Breen leading home Citroen’s charge in fourth place over 30 seconds behind Lappi.

With Neuville four seconds off Breen, Mikkelsen followed home in sixth place with Paddon seventh and Mads Ostberg in eighth place for Citroen.

Kalle Rovanpera claimed victory in the WRC2 class for Skoda by over 90 seconds from Pontus Tidemand, with the top two rounding out the overall points places, with local driver Gus Greensmith completing the podium for Ford.

Last year’s Wales Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans was unable to defend his title due to a mechanical breakdown on SS7 with his M-Sport Ford.

The SS23 Power Stage was delayed by almost two hours following an incident unrelated to Wales Rally GB at the Llandudno finish. Due to the delays, only the top 14 drivers took part in the Power Stage while no bonus points were awarded for the results.